Concrete

Concrete: It is the abstract aspect of things that is relatively easy to delve in; the practical aspects are the difficult ones, most often. It is not for nothing that philosophers are often referred to as “having their heads in the clouds” and sitting isolated in their “ivory towers.” This is funny, at least marginally, because it is primarily true. That is why stereotypes are funny – because they are usually true. We all know the Germans love to sit in their cafes and sip espresso while reading the latest novels and that the French love their robust variety of beers…you see; when you read that you likely got slightly perturbed, and even mad. But if you were to reverse the associations and re-read it, then you would likely smirk, and even laugh, because, after all, it would mostly hold true. Nonetheless, I have often said that it is the technicians, the mechanics, the computer programmers, and engineers that are the brilliant lacunae of our society, for you can be a theoretical physicist, but cannot be a theoretical mechanic or theoretical engineer. What you do, or design, or make has to work in real life, or you may come to the threshold of starving yourself and your family. The difference between a philosopher and a pizza is that one can actually feed a family of four. I am not against exploring the abstract, since through doing so more complex yet concrete, practical things are produced…like concrete cement itself. Of course, concrete is not as solid and concrete as we may think, as there is more empty space between the nucleus of an atom and its orbiting electrons than is occupied by the subatomic particles themselves by a factor of 10^35. I apologize if this is a little too abstract.